Chapter 41

"Father, Father, I have something to talk about."

After dinner, I called out to Father, avoiding my sister's gaze, and moved to the back of the house.

"Abel, it's unusual for you to want to talk. Is it about the incense tobacco?"

...Lately, Father seems to talk about nothing but incense tobacco. He must be very pleased that I hit a home run and made the Berrek family a bit wealthy. Since then, he has been visiting the chieftain frequently. I understand that he talks a lot about incense tobacco, but the frequency is too high. It feels like he's cozying up to the chieftain, which makes me feel complicated. I hope he doesn't get carried away and become a second Kalko family.

"No, it's about Jizel."

"Hmm, so you're finally thinking about that kind of thing. I was planning to talk to you about it if you didn't bring it up."

Huh? Father talking about Jizel?

Well, it makes sense. Although they didn't say it out loud, my parents must have some thoughts about Jizel's big brother complex.

"So, when are you planning to have the ceremony? It's best to do it within the year after the coming-of-age ceremony. There's no point in delaying it, and next month is considered unlucky. How about next week..."

Wait, isn't something wrong here?

"Wait, wait a minute! What are you talking about!"

"Huh? Isn't it about your wedding with Jizel?"

"Wait, wait, hold on. Why would I marry Jizel?"

Father frowned here.

No, I'm the one who wants to frown.

"What, you don't want to?"

"No, it's not a matter of not wanting to! It's just strange!"

While voicing my doubts, I began to connect the dots of the discomfort I had felt in this village.

When Jizel was born, my parents tried to make me, who was still a child, take care of her as much as possible.

Siby's misunderstanding of my relationship with Jizel.

Nozwell's ominous statement, "I'll marry your sister."

And other discrepancies in values I had felt.

Come to think of it, there was a strange fairy tale in the house.

The story was simple: a knight rescues a princess who has been kidnapped by a dragon. In the end, the princess rejects the knight who saved her and suddenly marries her brother, who had never appeared in the story before.

I remember Jizel crying after reading it. I thought she was pitying the knight who was toyed with by the princess, but maybe it was a kind of emotional response.

Is it possible that this village encourages marriage within the family?

I remember that in my previous life, there was a religion that considered marriage within the family a virtue.

"No, I don't think I can look at Jizel that way."

"Hmm, I can understand that."

Thank goodness, it seems he's not completely unreasonable.

Of course, that's to be expected. After all, he's my father.

"Having a household means taking on responsibility. It might feel heavy for the free-spirited Abel. But you are an adult of the Maren tribe. This is a good opportunity for you to grow up a bit more."

That's not the point at all!

"Sorry, but I thought marriage was usually between different families..."

"What are you talking about? I married my sister, you know?"

Father, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Huh?"

A shocking fact I didn't want to know.

Mother, you were Father's sister?

No, no, no, no.

I had indeed felt something was off before, but I never thought it could be something like this.

But now that you mention it, I do remember several interactions that hinted at this.

"What's wrong, Abel? Why are you sweating so much?"

"W-Why! It's fine to marry someone from another family, isn't it!"

"R-Really? According to the logic, there's no problem with marrying within the family. You know, it's said that the closer the relatives, the stronger the descendants' magic will be..."

"Wait, you always talk about bows, but now you're concerned about this? Besides, didn't you say magic was irrelevant!?"

"How can it be irrelevant! It's an important part of Maren culture! Rather, why are you suddenly talking about magic all the time?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying! That's exactly what I'm saying!"

No, I need to calm down.

I'm panicking a bit.

If I speak calmly and slowly, Father should understand.

"Father, please listen carefully. When close relatives have children, harmful recessive genes can combine, leading to genetic disorders. If this happens over several generations, the risk increases dramatically. By abandoning the advantages of sexual reproduction, the body's resistance naturally decreases."

"Abel, calm down. I don't understand what you're saying."

"Even a minor cold can become a big deal..."

I remembered that colds in the Maren tribe are particularly severe.

So, the negative effects are already showing. But maybe it's not a problem because they can handle it with magic.

But even without that, I can't accept it mentally.

"What, you're not interested? You always take good care of Jizel..."

That's only as a sister.

I have no intention of crossing that line. Absolutely not.

"But according to the village rules, if a brother and sister are born, the male must marry the female if the age difference is within five years. It's a tradition..."

"No, I can't quite..."

"Ugh, even you, who is so different, saying something like this..."

Father said this and fell silent.

I didn't know what to say either. The silence continued.

"Brother! Brother! Mother, have you seen Brother? He's been missing since a while ago. He's not in the front garden either. I'm so worried... I'm afraid he might have collapsed somewhere..."

Jizel's voice could be heard from the house.

Father walked towards the front door.

"Wait, wait a minute, Father! We're not done talking..."

"Before Abel starts causing more trouble, we need to prepare for the ceremony. He's easily swayed, so once the ceremony is over, everything will be fine..."

Father muttered.

I stopped in my tracks.

What did this father just say?

"Father? You're joking, right?"

"Huh!? Did I say something out loud?"

Father was clearly flustered.

No doubt about it. He's planning to secure the surroundings and force the issue, trying to sway me.